After hearing some misogynistic moron say this to another dancer defending her decision to dance:
"Well since you "paid the better half of your college tuition off" then that makes it ok. Of course your parents would have gladly paid it rather than have their little girl parade naked for a room full of strange men who throw dollar bills at you. But hey, as long as you made money then everything is OK right? You're the one who spreads her legs for strangers and you're talking about MY ignorance?"
After thoroughly putting this antagonist in his place, I began to wonder, how do other girls defend themselves from this type of bs? Of course, dancing is a legal way to make money, and therefore requires no further justification. But society can be a hateful creature, and this sort of social dreg comes up from time to time. The quickest and most efficient way to deal with these 'men' is to blow them off. After all- they're just another asshole who you'll probably never have to see again, so who cares what they think?
We were (almost) all raised to view Strippers in the light of a social stigma. Somewhere along the line, we all came to a point where we said, "Fuck the majority, I'm going for this." After that, there are two kinds of dancers: those who feel truly ashamed of what they do, and those who don't. Those of us who don't, have our reasons why.
We may not need to justify ourselves to anyone, but in light of the overwhelming social stigma towards not only our profession but our very selves, we must have our justifications for subjecting ourselves to such social ostracism, ridicule, ignorance, resentment and even hatred.
My reply to our society is this- God forbid we women let anyone even look upon the sight of our naked bodies! The sight of our vagina ought to be our MAN'S reward, and only our man's reward! Or is it that you feel as though making money off of ones looks is obscene? If so, welcome to America. Look around you and get used to it.
The 'value' of a woman's body is not degraded with each set of eyes that have fallen upon her breasts and vagina. By looking at me, naked or clothed, you have not added nor detracted anything from me OR my body. I will walk away with the same naked body I had before I'd ever been seen naked by any man. And I will walk away with the same amount of dignity I had when I walked in.
That's my answer to this still highly misogynistic society we live in. What's yours?
Edited to say, I don't necessarily mean what is your defense for people who call on you to defend it. There is no need nor point in defending yourself to ignorant people. I'm talking about in the more existential sense, how do you justify it, in light of such ignorance, to yourself?



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